Sand-car.



No. 748,210. PATEN'IED DEC. 29, 1903.

A. F. McCONNELL.

SAND GAR.

APPLIGATION FILED MAY 1,1903. NO MODEL. 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 amoembozl/vvf/neooao I A F M CONNELL.

No. 748,210. PATENTED DEC. 29, 1903.

A. P. MOGONNELL.

SAND UAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 1903 NO MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHBET 2.

ms PETERS ca. PHOTO-THO wxsrlmafom a. 0.,

UNITED STATES Patented December 29, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

SAND-CAR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 748,210, dated December29, 1903. Application filed May l 1903. Serial No. 155,180. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known t-hatI, ATLAS F. MoCONNELL,a citizen of the United States,residing at Nashville, in the county of Davidson, State of Tennessee,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sand-Oars; and I dohereby declare the following to be afull,clear,and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. V

This invention relates to means for sanding railway-tracks; and it hasfor its object to provide a car, including a body and a truck, the carhaving sand-discharge openings and valves for controlling the dischargeof sand, the arrangement of the boots or funnels through which the sandpasses to the trackrails being such that the sand will be delivered tothe centers of the rails whether the latter be straight or curved.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be understood fromthe following description and include the provision of a specific valvemechanism in the operation of which the sand will be loosened, so as tofeed readily.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views,Figure 1 1s a section taken longitudinally through a car in a verticalplane, including the discharge-boots at one side of the car, the wheelsbeing in elevation. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the car. Fig. 3 is atop plan view of the platform of the car, the elements of the shiftingmechanism beingindicated in dotted lines. Fig. 4 is an elevation showingthe bucket that is employed in filling the sand-boxes.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown acar, including a platform10, to which is connected a truck 11 in the usual manner, and whichtruck includes the supportingwheels 12, the truck being connected to theplatform of the car by the usual means, so that the body of the car willbe supported upon springs and, may rise and fall with respect to thetruck.

Connected to the side beams of the truck, at one side of each of thewheels 12, is a boot or funnel 13, having a flared top 14, while at theopposite side of each wheel and connecttracks.

ed also to the corresponding side bar of the truck is a boot or funnel15, having a flared upper end 16, the lower ends of the boots or funnelsbeing held securely with their lower or discharged ends above and closeto the rails, so that sand fed to the boots or funnels will passtherethrough and be deposited directly upon the treads of the rails. Itwill be noted that the beams or bars to which the boots or funnels areattached are connected directly to the axles of the wheels, so that theyhave a constant elevation above the The result is that the lower ends ofthe boots or funnels are held at constant elevations above the rails, sothat as the carbody rises and falls on its springs there is no tendencyto scatter the sand from the boots or funnels.

Sand is fed from the car-body to the boots or funnels through openings17 in the platform,.each of these openings having a valve mechanism toregulate the passage of sand thereth rough. Against the under sides ofthe platform and over each of the openings 17 is secured a plate 18,having an elongated slot 19 therethrough, and an elliptical valve 20 isdisposed upon the upper face of the plate and is slidable thereover tocover and uncover the slot, the edge of the valve being beveleddownwardly to form a sharp cutting edge 2l, so that the valve may passreadily through the sand. To reciprocate the valves, two handlevers 24and 25 are provided, fulcrumed at opposite ends ofthe platform of thecar, and

which hand-levers are adapted to shift the Valvestoopen the slots at thecorresponding sides of the wheels, it being understood that there is anopening 17 corresponding to and arranged over each of the funnels orboots, so that by operating one of the hand-levers sand will bedeposited upon the rails at one side of the wheels and by operation ofthe other lever sand will be deposited upon the rails at the oppositesides of the wheels. Each of the valves 20 has a bolt 26 passedtherethrough, and through the slot of the plate 18 and upon the upperend of the bolt and impinging against the valve is a frusto-conical nut27, which by reason of its shape serves to push the sand upwardly as itis moved laterally therethrough.

To the bolts of the valves at that end of the YOU platform at which islocated the lever 24 are connected links 27, which are pivoted to levers28, fulcrumed to bolts 29 on the bottom of the platform and connected attheir opposite ends to shift-rods 30, which extend longitudinally of theunder side of the platform and are slidably mounted. The valves at thecorresponding side of the wheels at the other end of the platform havetheir belts engaged through links 31, which are connected to levers 32,fulcrumed upon the bottom of the platform and connected at theiropposite ends to the rod 30. It will be noted that the rods 30 arelocated at opposite sides of the platform, and by reciprocating theserods simultaneously all of the valves at one side of the wheels will beopened to permit of passage of sand to the corresponding boots or willbe closed to cut off such passage of sand. To shift the rods 30, levers34 are pivoted thereto and are fulcrnmed upon the bottom of theplatform, the opposite ends of the levers being crossed and slotted toreceive the pin 35 at the lower end of the lever 24. With thisconstruction the lever 24 may be oscillated to open and close one set ofvalves.

The valves of the openings above the boots 13 have their bolts engagedwith links 36, which are pivoted to levers 37, fulcrumed upon the bottomof the platform and pivotedat their opposite ends to the shift-rods 38,it

being noted that there are two of the rods 38 slidably mountedlongitudinally of the under side of the platform and connected at theirforward ends to the levers 39, which are fulcrnmed upon the under sideof the platform, their opposite ends being crossed and slotted toreceive the pin 40 atthe lower end of the lever 25. Thus when oneof thehand-levers is operated one set of slots is opened and when the otherhand-lever is operated the other set of slots is opened.

Each of the levers 24 and 25 is provided with a latch for holding it inadjusted positions, each of the levers being pivoted between the braces4l,secured tothe platform and the adjacent dashboard 42. A bar43 issecured to each dashboard and passes rearwardly through a slot 44 in thelever and then downwardly,

where it is attached to the platform, the horizontal portion of the barbeing provided with notches 45. In each lever is slidably mounted avertical bolt 46, disposed to engage its lower end in either of thenotches 45 when the lever is correspondingly positioned, the

bolt-bar being held yieldably in engaging po-- sition by means of ahelical spring 47. Pivoted to the bolt-bar is a lever 48, pivoted alsoto the main hand-lever, the free end of the lever 48 projecting from themain or hand lever and extending upwardly in are shape and in the pathof the arc-shaped lower end of the finger-lever 49, so that when thelatter is grasped and operated its arc-shaped end will press against thecorresponding end of the lever 48 and force it downwardly to raise thebolt-bar from engaging position. By this means the hand-levers may belocked in position to hold their corresponding valves open or closed.

In practice modifications of the specific construction shown may be madeand any suitable materials and proportions may be used for the variousparts without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The boots for each of the wheels receive sand from a common sand-box 30within the body of the car, the sand-box having a trans-. parent plate31 in its side, which registers with the corresponding openingin theside of the car, so that the quantity of sand in the box may bedetermined from the outside of the car. v

In Fig. 4 of the drawings there is shown a bucket 32', which is employedin filling the sand-boxes.' This bucket has a funnel-spout 33 to directthe sand to the boxes and is open only at the rear portion of its top,and this open portion is provided with a screen 34, onto which the sandis poured and through which it passes into the body of the bucket.

In this way the pouring of any large particles into the sand-boxes isprevented.

What is claimed is- The combination with a truck and a platformsupported thereon and having openings therethrongh, of hoppers disposedabove the openings and connecting therewith, slotted plates secured tothe under side of the platform and covering the perforations, perforatedslides lying upon the upper faces ofthe plates and slidably disposedthereon, bolts within the perforations of the slides and lying withinthe slots of the plates, hand-levers upon the platform,lever mechanismsbetween the hand-levers and the bolts to move the slides upon the platesand to alternately open and close the slots, and sand-directing bootsmounted upon the truck at each side of the wheels and adapted to receivesand from the hoppers and direct same in the paths of the wheels.

In testimony whereof I affi-x my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ATLAS F. MOCONNELL.

Witnesses: i

F. L. BLUME, JNo. F. Ross.

